Boxes of LPs
It was a week for boxes of LPs.
I was leaving work the other day, walking to the car, a beautiful hot summer day. In front of me, a few steps ahead, I saw my friend John, who works next door.
My friend John who, it turns out, is also into vinyl.
"John, hey, John!," I holler. He didn't hear me the first time, so I hollered at him again, this time a little louder!
The louder volume got his attention. He turned around, recognized the idiot - me - who had been screaming at him from behind and, fortunately, smiled and walked back toward me to greet me, warmly.
"Hi, Paul," John said.
"Hi, John. Sorry I called so loudly! I wanted to get your attention! Seems like you were on another planet," I exclaimed, joking. "Were you thinking about some records you just bought at Jerry's or something?"
John laughed. "No, I haven't been back to Jerry's since the time we met there. Long overdue. You? Have you bought any new records?"
"I am overdue for a visit to Jerry's myself," I responded. "But, I did come across some new disks. Sort of a funny story. Just last week I was leaving a meeting and my friend Tom the record collector was loading a few boxes into his truck. Turns out, he was heading to Jerry's to sell some things he didn't want anymore and let me take a look. He told me I could have whatever I wanted for flea market prices! Well, I selected ten records, including three Rory Gallagher albums, Spencer Davis' 'I'm a Man,' Ray Charles' 'Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,' a two record set by Steeleye Span called 'Dogs & Ferrets,' Bill Withers' 'Still Bill,' a Michael Hedges, and an interesting 1973 record by Captain Beyond - an LA rock band formed by refugees from Iron Butterfly and Deep Purple. (Now that is a heavy concept. Haven't listened to it yet, but I'll be sure to let you know what its like. The cover - unfolded to show you front and back - is included here above).
I may not have gone into this much detail with John, but you get the drift.
John, it turns out, had just picked up a whole box of records in a parking lot somewhere - John, help, I can't remember the details! He was looking at the truck next to his in the parking lot and there was a big box of records in it and the guy just offered it to him! said he was trying to sell them and couldn't find any takers.
So, I guess the moral of this story is pay attention to trucks and guys with boxes....?
NOTE: Currently, John is listening to a record a day for ten days - both sides in order in their entirety. He reports that, "First up ... a desert island disc. 'Darklands' by the Jesus & Mary Chain." John, how far have you gotten and what else have you heard? Why stop at ten days? Are you going to blog about them? Send me your comments on each and I'll put them up here.
Two reasons for 10 albums/days:
(1) My wife & son are out of town for that duration on an annual "moms & kids" beach retreat with her family ... actually have the time to listen!
(2) I wanted to see what (at least right now) my cliche "10 desert island discs" would be, or if I would even be able to pick just 10.
The hardest part in many instances is that you know a particular artist for your "top 10", but its damn-near impossible to pick the album.
You'll be happy to know that 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' is on that list -- listened to it yesterday. And then I listened to many of the album demos from a widely-circulated bootleg.
On the other story -- my wife actually spotted the box in the back of a truck and made a comment. Turns out the owner was standing nearby and made the offer (he indeed was unable to sell them ... they were destined for the trash). Without even knowing what they were, I said yes unconditionally. Mostly classical material, but a few interesting items (including a WC Fields record).
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